Work with staff

Working in schools with children who present a range of challenging behaviours either internally such as self harm, or externally such as aggression and bullying can be both satisfying and overwhelming. The work i offer to school staff facilitates a deeper understanding of children’s behaviour and enables them to feel better equipped to deal with these challenges on a daily basis.

I provide the following services to staff:

A whole school approach to emotional health and wellbeing – a package which includes training, staff consultations, groupwork training and reviews, modelling delivering groupwork with a member of school staff, parent consultation. The package is designed to include some or all of the interventions depending on the needs of the school and its community.

Staff consultations – a space for individual staff to discuss and explore children’s behaviour and their experiences of working with children with suggestions of strategies to implement and review . These sessions provide the opportunity to explore the possible reasons for children’s behaviour, to understand that all behaviour has meaning and to explore the impact of children’s behaviour on teaching and learning. This can result in school staff having an increased understanding of children’s behaviour and what they may be trying to communicate, as well as helping them to feel less overwhelmed and more confident as teaching staff. These sessions can be offered individually for 20 – 30 minutes or as a small group of staff for 1 hour. They are most effective if they are delivered on a regular basis to enable the strategies to be reviewed and evaluated.

Emotional awareness staff discussion group (EASD) – a weekly staff discussion group suitable for all teaching staff (1hour per week for 10 weeks) to explore the impact of children’s social and emotional difficulties on behaviour and learning. This can help to reduce staff isolation and stress by sharing and discussing challenging pupils and situations.

Observations in the classroom with follow on staff consultation providing feedback and strategies to implement. These can be carried out for an individual or group of children to provide deeper insight and understanding of behaviour and social and emotional development.

Therapeutic care plan – an individualised plan for a specific child which outlines the child’s emotional and behavioural needs with strategies for staff to implement across the school. It also explores the possible reasons for the child’s behaviour to develop staff empathy and understanding. This plan can follow the child and be adapted as they progress through the school to enable a cohesive approach.

Supervision for therapists and trainees:

Supervision is available for other therapists and therapy students or trainee’s working with children and adolescents. This can be individual supervision either by telephone or face to face, depending upon the supervisee’s location. Group supervision can also be arranged should several therapists wish to be supervised together. Supervisee’s come from play therapy, creative arts and counselling backgrounds